$100,000 in debt, has not graduated

[gcal]

Just read a news story about a woman (she's 24, not a "girl, " anymore) who racked up $100,000 in student loans so she could go to her dream school for 4 years. She's out of money, out of credit, and still a semester short. Her goal is to work for a non-profit org. She's started a gofundme account, to which I will not be contributing.

I hardly know what to say to this. Why was a community college not good enough for the first 2 years? Why did she think it was worth borrowing the equivalent of a mortgage so she could go work for low wages? As hard as I try to feel sympathy for her, I just keep asking "why?"

 

[Rugster]

In my opinion? It's because there is a feeling these days of entitlement and a belief that you are not responsible for whatever problem you get yourself into. $100,000 debt to work in a @25,000 per year job? Sure, no problem!

And a gofundme account? Geeeze.

I think this attitude came around right about the time they took dodgeball out of PE classes. Noone bails you out of getting smacked in the face with those pink balls

 

[BradKW]

Wisdom usually comes with years...hard to be too critical of a decision like that made at age 18...

 

[Canine]

I don't think this is the attitude of the younger generation today.I just think it is one persons screwup and is not indicative of other young folks.Every older generation swears the younger generation is going to hell in a handbasket because they do things different.

 

[gojo]

It's not all that bad. I figure the next 25 years, a $100,000 will probably be 1 months rent, or one months grocery bill, OR just pocket change. lol

I remember I bot a new 1973 Dodge Charge SE for $4300... and I had a nice apartment in Houston for $75 a month..​

 

[GotSmart]

Part of the problem is the lies Corporate America has been telling us.
Go to a big expensive school, get a degree, and money will seek you out!  

One of my daughters made a shocking observation about the difference between today's music and the music of my generation.

Today's music does not reflect that there is anything to look forward to.  No brighter future.

Sadly, she is right.  Songs are now about I WANT, it used to be, WHEN I GROW UP~~~

 

[VanCamper]

People have been told, you have to go to college, get a degree to get a GOOD job. There are many good jobs that don't require a degree. There are apprenticeships in the building trades and manufacturing trades that pay very well if you are willing to WORK. There are shortages in these trades because workers are retiring and they are having difficulties finding replacements.

 

[GotSmart]

People have been told, you have to go to college, get a degree to get a GOOD job. There are many good jobs that don't require a degree. There are apprenticeships in the building trades and manufacturing trades that pay very well if you are willing to WORK. There are shortages in these trades because workers are retiring and they are having difficulties finding replacements.

But But But~~~ you have to GET DIRTY.  And and and ACTUALLY WORK!    :s

My kids saw me putting in 16 hour days, and making sure their mother was at home for them.  They are not scared to get dirty.  That is when we had the most fun. Building and fixing things. 

 

[VanCamper]

But But But~~~ you have to GET DIRTY.  And and and ACTUALLY WORK!    :s

My kids saw me putting in 16 hour days, and making sure their mother was at home for them.  They are not scared to get dirty.  That is when we had the most fun. Building and fixing things. 

Absolutely!!!

 

[Spirituallifetime]

Most young people don't think about how they will pay back their college debt until they get out. And don't consider how much they are spending to get an education and how much that career will pay. My dauters are paying for their education out of pocket and use scolerships as they can get them.

 

[Spirituallifetime]

Just read a news story about a woman (she's 24, not a "girl, " anymore) who racked up $100,000 in student loans so she could go to her dream school for 4 years. She's out of money, out of credit, and still a semester short. Her goal is to work for a non-profit org. She's started a gofundme account, to which I will not be contributing.

I hardly know what to say to this. Why was a community college not good enough for the first 2 years? Why did she think it was worth borrowing the equivalent of a mortgage so she could go work for low wages? As hard as I try to feel sympathy for her, I just keep asking "why?"

She needs to get a job and pay for the last semester. Why let lack of money hold you back work hard save money and get it done! Buy a van and live in it cheap to save money.

 

[Goshawk]

Am actually going to take the college students side. Sort of. She should never be given a loan for a education that would result in a minimum wage job at completion. Education loans against anything but a STEM degree, and continued loans if you get anything but straight A, should be prohibited. It's not a good investment for tax dollars to guarantee a loan that might result in no way to pay back; without credit slavery. Some schools are seriously promoting lifetime credit slavery.

 

[buckwilk]

It's the system, baby. You've got tenured profs making 6 figures a year for doing nothing. TA's teach the classes, it's not unusual for a student to never hear a lecture by the listed professor. That aside, these kids are getting loans and using them for things besides school. ASU is one of the largest schools in the U.S., 58,000 undergraduates. Tuition and room and board is $85,000 for 4 years. That is if you can get student housing, if not it goes up seriously. When I attended ASU in the mid sixties I paid about $1300 tuition and lived and worked off campus. When I received my B.A. after 4 years I had spent about $ 15,000. I had no debts. My degree is in Business Administration and I used it all my life. These kids are going in debt for degrees like Art History, guaranteed to get them a job at the carwash.

 

[gcal]

It's the system, baby. You've got tenured profs making 6 figures a year for doing nothing. TA's teach the classes, it's not unusual for a student to never hear a lecture by the listed professor. That aside, these kids are getting loans and using them for things besides school. ASU is one of the largest schools in the U.S., 58,000 undergraduates. Tuition and room and board is $85,000 for 4 years. That is if you can get student housing, if not it goes up seriously. When I attended ASU in the mid sixties I paid about $1300 tuition and lived and worked off campus. When I received my B.A. after 4 years I had spent about $ 15,000. I had no debts. My degree is in Business Administration and I used it all my life. These kids are going in debt for degrees like Art History, guaranteed to get them a job at the carwash.

Students are encouraged to "go with your heart, it will all work out." Reality is that you can minor in whatever you love, but few employers are going to care about your major in Art History, Ancient Greek Literature, or Women's  and Black Studies.

 

[Phantom Blooper]

 She's started a gofundme account

The Internet police ought to remove that site. IMO!
Need help...a bed..a meal...a bath.... a tank of gas....an ear to listen...a shoulder to cry on....a few bucks to get home and not scheme.....I will help if I can....
But I would never sat pay my way........
She made her bed....lie in it or get a new mattress!
Life lessons are hard.....life is not free....ought to be cheaper......but.........

"That's Life"

Frank Sinatra

That's life (that's life), that's what all the people say
You're ridin' high in April, shot down in May

 

[Dewave]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/25/federal-student-loan-profit/3696009/

Alot of my young coworkers are in deep debt. Some stay with their parents, delay marriage, children till the debt is paid. I know a couple paying 900 per month, ouch.

 

[johnny b]

She could go to Pahrump and work at Sherri's to pay her debt....plus get a real education about 'life'!  

 

[highdesertranger]

I take it Sherri's is a house of ill repute? when I was a kid we were driving through Nevada and there was a red beacon light that you could see for miles. I asked pop what was that red light? he said it must be some out of the way gambling place. hah you lied to me pop. highdesertranger

 

[buckwilk]

In those days going to one of "those houses" was kinda like gambling.

 

[eDJ_]

I live near a big University District.  Colleges, VoEd's, UNI's, 2 Year's, Certification Schools, Business Schools, Nursing Schools, Branches of large UNI's  based in the Capital Cities etc etc.  Overbuilt on tax payer dollars
and it is a topic of constant discussion here.

So often young kids are making major decisions in life before they are anyways near qualified.  The Marketing
of these "Education Complexes" to these young people is "viral".   Then these institutes of higher learning
are over burdened by some pretty high paid administrators.   These young people are often like "sheep".

I was at a Wendy's the other day and a girl working there was giving me a few tips on the use of my droid tablet (I'm not a big user of Android yet)  and she was telling me she was in school to be a Pharmacy Tech but was  out this term and working to get money to go back to school. 

A woman who was sitting with her elderly parents seated near by spoke to us and explained that she was a Pharmacy Tech but now living in Pittsburgh, PA.    That she doesn't need to go to some School to get a degree or certification. She can buy a certain study book and spend about 4 months studying it and go to a testing center and pay $300 to sit for the test. (if she passes it she is certified)  Then she can go get a job.  This puts her free of 20 to 30k of student loan debt,  and in the market working without having to waste a couple of years being off the market.

The girl was floored by this.  She didn't have a clue that it was possible to do this.

My reaction was restrained.  I was thinking, "Where are all the High School Guidance Counselors" ?  What are they being paid off by these Colleges, or given tuition credits to not tell High School students about getting their own certification ?

And speaking of High Schools.  Notice they shut down by the time people are getting off work.  There is a cafeteria there and a building that could operate as a Jr College & Certification School.   People could come there when they get off work and eat their dinner there,  study for awhile before classes start at 6pm till
ending at 8:30 pm. 

For that matter there could be an elective 13 & 14 th grade that would offer associate degrees in business, nursing, paralegal and whatever else.  All in the same School building supported by tax payers.  Just better more efficient use of the facility.   The custodians could come to work later in the evening as they would have
from 9pm to 6am to clean the place up.  This opposed to building another multi million dollar school at today's
building cost and staffing it with high paid bureaucrats. 

This isn't anything new, other countries have done this for decades.  They get their kids in the market sooner,  paying taxes,  and preventing them from being ruined by debt before they can get started. 

The "Entitlement Class" may actually be some of these adult organizations who build this infrastructure, those who bankroll it, and then seek to pay for it all with student loan debt in the hands of kids who don't know better because they weren't better informed.

A few years ago I went to a Certification School and in 3 weeks and $1500 bucks I got certified in Central Office telecom and Fiber Optic.   I've earned that back many times.  There are trades journals and websites
I can use to find work anywhere.  It is part of my plan for living out of a Van with a trailer when I get on the road.  (and I'll have the $80 a day of per diem money to stick in my pocket when working)